simon & lee

simon & lee's dining area is rather jammed. and i sighted quite a lot of customers, including the former pm, mr.key, on the day we had our lunch. i had the "soup dogg" which is noodles in pork bone broth, with beef brisket & some veggie. the taste was rich but was a bit small in quantity. my wife's chicken lunch box came with korean sweet & sourfriedchicken, fries & coleslaw, pickles, etc.  i would say, it was much more generous than my dish.
(food - 3.5/5; service - 4/5; ambience - 3/5)
visited on 27 may 2018

good service and delicious food. if you haven't, you must try theirfriedchicken!!!! no regret :)

i have visited simone & lee over a year ago, today’s visit made me wonder why i haven’t come back earlier. the korean infused european brunches and the excellence in taste; the attentive and friendly services, are all the good reasons to love this cafe.

starving since the morning, we ordered a couple of small and main dishes.

the tteokggochi rice cake was crispy on outside and chewy on the inside, excellently flavoured with korean spices.

the garlic soy chicken nibbles was super delicious as well, one of the bestfriedchickens i’ve ever had. the nibbles were tender and juicy encased in a layer of crispy batter.

the bulgogi spaghetti was a hybrid from the menu. the korean styled bulgogi beef blended nicely with the creaminess of cheese. the spaghetti noodles were springy and tasteful.

the benedict was rather lavish. the kumara were fresh and soft; the smoked salmon and bacon were flavourful; thefriedkimchi made, which added a mild spice to your palate.

to finish off, i ordered a flat white to go. their coffee was strong but smooth to drink.

if you like a korean style brunch with intensified flavouring, this is a cafe not to be missed.

taste: 10/10
presentation: 8.5/10
service: 9/10
ambience: 8.5/10
value for money: 10/10

price $25 per person

i lovefriedchicken 🍗 whoever decided to start frying chicken is honestly a genius and i want to hug them. koreanfriedchicken is my absolute favourite 😍 had a craving for it so i decided to finally try out simon & lee! ordered the chicken lunchbox ($17) which comes with koreanfriedchicken, slaw, pickles, shoestring fries and aioli (we never got given any aioli tho 🤔). for the chicken sauce i chose garlic soy and safe spicy 🌶 the chicken was sooooo good, cooked to perfection and juicy. this chicken looks like it does the korean 10 step skin care routine because it was glowing ✨ the fries were crispy and i enjoyed the slaw. pickled radish is essential to the koreanfriedchicken experience to cut through any greasiness. the pickles seemed pretty random but i still ate them cause your girl doesn't like to waste food 😂 i'd love to go back and try the danger spicy sauce and other menu items!

overall rating: 9/10 🍗🍗🍗

delicious koreanfriedchicken, hands down one of the best in auckland. everything i’ve tried so far has been so yummy. great coffee too! very friendly staff ☺️

this is one of my favorite cafe. i went to here fourth time. all of my friends likes here and enjoy  the food. very goodfriedchicken and friendly staff. i recommend to come here and have a great time.

will be back for thefriedchicken! more than enough for the 5 or us. they even give you gloves to keep your hands clean. great place to hang out with friends :d

we absolutely love this place!friedchicken is very very delicious. love their waffle fries too. don’t try the danger spicy chicken if you don’t do well with spicy food. we could not finish it lol. pork belly and rice is tasty but rice was a bit hard.

korean fusion done right! the koreanfriedchicken (safe spicy) was so crispy, sweet and super saucy! the bulgogi spaghetti was an absolute fave and the tteokkkochi had the perfect crunch on the outside and a nice chew on the inside. wish they were open until late more often though!

we orderd the bulgogi spaghetti andfriedchicken (danger spicy) and 2 coffees. 

staff checked with us first and warned us that danger spicy is really spicy! we eat lots of spicy food and i have to say it is really spicy! in fact it's so spicy eating it is more like a challenge rather than enjoyment. so yeah it's a shame because otherwise it would have been really nice. the coating remained crunchy even though it's drenched in sauce. ps they give you plastic gloves so you won't get your hand dirty. 

the bulgogi spaghetti was amazing. the sauce was savoury, sweet, and just a little bit tangy, like a richer version of the bulgogi sauce. there's also a nice flavour of shitake in the sauce. mix it with the egg yolk and it's positively heaven! will definitely visit again for the bulgogi spaghetti but maybe just the normal spicyfriedchicken. :)

awesome food and vibe backed up by great service. definitely a great place to visit anytime. the koreanfriedchicken is worth a try as well as the breakfast options.

very goodfriedchicken and friendly staff. tucked away from other restaurants in parnell, it is quite and perfect for date night. the chicken is moist and crunchy and flavoursome, everything you would want for authentic koreanfriedchicken.

it is a bit hard to find bit it is situated in the corner area with the door just beside the power box. we missed the entrance the first time around and went to hello mister next door.

the cafe is fairly small but does have quite a few tables. we were in the back area by the kitchen and it was comfy. we ordered a few things to share.

they have really nicefriedchicken. we went with the safe spicy chicken nibbles and it was delicious. the sauce was more sweet than spicy but the chicken was crispy and juicy. they even gave us gloves so we didn't get too dirty for the next round.

we shared the dolsot spicy pork belly, bulgogi spaghetti and prawn dumplings (mahn du gok) with ttoek rice cakes. the bulgogi spaghetti was very moreish. creamy and rich with flavours of the mushrooms and beef. the mahn du gok was also quite nice since the soup was really flavourful. the only issue was that some of the ttoek were nice and chewy while others were way too firm. the dolsot had huge chunks of pork belly with a (not very spicy) sauce. the rice was nice and crispy, giving it more flavour and texture.

a really nice place to grab some food. the options are all very intriguing and you probably can't go wrong. just make sure to try some of theirfriedchicken.

a mixture of cafe food and korean cuisine is simon & lee. the food is good and is nicely presented. the bibimbap is so colourful and inviting.

thefriedchicken is full of flavour and is served with some pickled korean veges. service is quick and the dining area is tidy and spacious.

we went here for thefriedchicken and ordered the hottest one because we love spicy food. couple first bites were soooo good then it was too spicy for us to handle haha however we managed to finish them all. i would recommend others who love spicy to try the level before spiciest first to see how you can handle. we also ordered bibimbab which was pretty average.